(Photo courtesy of Steven Frommell of D3photography.com)

OSHKOSH, Wisc. – Facing a sizable double-digit deficit late in the first half, Calvin stormed back for a 97-88 victory over UW-Stout Thursday afternoon on the final day of competition the BSN Winter Sports Classic. The two-day tournament was hosted by UW-Oshkosh at the nearby Oshkosh Arena.

The Calvin win snapped a five-game win streak by UW-Stout (10-3).

Less than 24 hours after dropping a 78-56 decision to fifth-ranked UW-Oshkosh, Calvin found itself down 56-41 with 1:40 left in the first half. Rather than packing it in, Calvin fought back with an 8-0 run to end the half as the Knights trailed 56-49 at the break. Sophomore Marcus Bult (Wheaton, Il./Wheaton Academy) sandwiched a pair of triples around a two-point bucket from sophomore teammate Uchenna Egekeze (Huntley, Il./Huntley HS) in the run while putting the Knights squarely back into the contest.

Calvin (7-4) continued to chip into the Stout advantage and finally tied the game at 69 on a layup by senior Thad Shymanski (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) with 11:47 left to play.

The Knights took their first lead at 72-71 on an old-fashioned three-point play by Egekeze with 10:30 on the clock.

Wisconsin-Stout rallied back to take a 75-72 lead but Bult fired in a clutch three-pointer to tie the score back up.

Egekeze gave Calvin the lead for good with a pair of free throws with 4:59 left to play. Calvin kept Stout from scoring over the next three-and-a-half minutes while building an 87-77 lead. Egekeze and Bult had key layups in traffic during the late-game surge for the Knights.

Calvin salted the game away with nine made free throws over the final 1:22 to seal the win.

Bult finished the game with a career-high 25 points off the bench to go with seven rebounds and four assists. Bult was 6 of 7 from three-point range after entering the game 6 of 20 from beyond the arc on the season.

Egekeze was also superb with a career-high 22 points including a roaring dunk after a steal and fast-break run to the rim. He also had three assists, two steals and a blocked shot.

Senior Luke Morrison (Bristol, Ind./Northridge HS) had 16 points and a career-high seven assists while Shymanski had 11 points and senior Jordan Katje (Kalamazoo, Mich./Kalamazoo Christian HS) 10 points. Katje also ripped down a game-high nine rebounds.

Calvin shot 50 percent (31 of 62) from the field and shot a season-high 61.1 percent (11 of 18) from three-point range. Calvin was also 24 of 28 from the free throw line for a scorching 85.7 percent clip.

Lovell Williams led Wisconsin-Stout with 24 points while Armani Tinsley had 20.

COACHES COMMENT: "This was a good gritty win," said Calvin head men's basketball coach Bill Sall. "Wisconsin-Stout hit some tough shots in the first half and we were a step slow defensively. The stretch late in the first half where we scored eight straight points to cut it down to seven was huge.  We did a great job of battling in second half and overcame some foul trouble. A huge game for Marcus Bult. If he doesn't step up the way he did, we have no shot. Uchenna also really stepped up. He played great defense and got downhill on offense and made some huge shots for us. Both of the sophomores had big games."

MORE KNIGHT NOTES: At the conclusion of the tournament, Marcus Bult was named to the BSN Sports Winter Classic All-Tournament Team.....With his 11 points, Shymanski moved past Kevin Broene and into 21st place on the Calvin career scoring list. Shymanski now has 1,045 points in his Calvin career. 

NEXT UP: Calvin will now prepare to open its MIAA campaign next Wednesday at Albion in a game slated to start at 8 p.m. at Kresge Gymnasium.